Guy Lemmon is Chief Operating Officer of the Fait Family Trust, the private entity that is partnering with the city of Costa Mesa to buy the Fairgrounds FRANK MICKADEIT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Facilities Management West, the company that won the right to partner with Costa Mesa to buy the Orange County Fairgrounds from the state, was a mysterious entity – unknown and not particularly wanting to be known – when it came from seemingly out of nowhere the last week to win commercial rights to the 150-acre events center.

F.M.W. had lost out at the state-run auction in January, and just 10 days ago seemed destined to come in second place, as the city tentatively picked another consortium of businessmen for the honor of paying for the $96 million Fairgrounds. But in a final round of negotiations – the details of which are still confidential – F.M.W. stole the prize.

Now, the question: Whoarethese guys?

I had lunch Wednesday at the Mimi's on Newport Boulevard with Guy Lemmon, the C.O.O. of F.M.W. The company had every intention of remaining private but when it realized the only way it could acquire rights to the Fairgrounds was through a public relationship, it shed some of that privacy.

But these folks are hardly out-of-towners bringing their $96 million to the table in satchels. These are people who grew up in your backyard and have significant roots in Orange County. They have simply been, well, fairly private.

Let's start withthe Fait Family Trust, the essential player. Newell and Helen Fait lived most of their adult lives in Newport Beach. Newell made his fortune investing in car dealerships around the U.S. Among the earliest was a Ford store just north of Long Beach. Newell owned all or parts of at least 100 dealerships at one time or another.

Lemmon's father, a C.P.A., worked for Newell. Now, Guy, also a C.P.A., works for the Faits, as he has for 31 years.

Newell and Helen have died – Helen just last year – but they had three children: Ken, Macara and Barry, all of whom are involved in the Trust. Over the years, the Trust invested in oil refineries near Bakersfield, mobile home parks in the Western U.S., tech companies, even a cattle ranch. In Sacramento, it owns and leases to the state the new 288,000-square-foot CHP headquarters. The Trust and its related companies are worth in the hundreds of millions.

But in O.C., the Faits have kept a relatively low profile. Ken, a retired attorney, is the principal of F.M.W., an entity that was created a few years ago as part of the Trust's oil operation but which the Trust has now decided should be its Fairgrounds arm.

One of the peoplethe Trust regularly partners with is Richard Dick, a Costa Mesa resident. Dick has his offices in the same Fashion Island suite as the Trust. Perhaps most prominently, they've partnered on Waterpointe Homes, a series of in-fill housing projects, including one on Bay Street in Costa Mesa.

One day last fall, Lemmon recalled, Dick approached him about the Fairgrounds auction the state was planning.

I interrupted.

"Did he come into your office waving one of my columns about the Fairgrounds, and saying, 'Hey, we have to do this!'?" I asked Lemmon (being as it is inconceivable a major decision on the future of Orange County could be contemplated without my influence).

"That's the kind of thing hewouldhave done," he replied. "But I don't remember exactly. He said something like, 'We ought to take a look at this.'"

Hmmph.

The key was that Dick grew up on a farm in Illinois, at one time sold ag products, and is an avid horseman.

"He is the passion of the Fair within the group," Lemmon said.

And that resonates with the Trust. Because the key to old Newell's business success, Lemmon said, was to find a smart partner who has a passion for a particular business and structure a deal in such a way that it is both parties' interests to realize a profit in the long run. That is, neither can become rich in the short run and walk away.

Through Dick, they brought in a third investor, David Pyle, who owns a Costa Mesa-based chain of health-care schools called American Career College and West Coast University. His family moved to Balboa Island 50 years ago.

Now we know who these guys are. Tomorrow, a bit about what they want to do.

Mickadeit writes Mon.-Fri. Contact him at 714-796-4994 or fmickadeit@ocregister.com

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